Easier Than Breathing
by aiupenn
Summary: Osamu's and Ranpo's relationship comes to them easier than breathing… Or, Ranpo mutters Osamu's name in his sleep, and the latter decides to take a chance.


"Osamu…"

Osamu's heart nearly flutters out of his chest (a rather uncomfortable feeling) as he hears his name escape so breathlessly and easily from between his sleeping partner's mouth. It's so soft and gentle that he doubts himself for several moments, thinking he'd imagined it. He glances to Ranpo's face, completely slack in his exhausted state, and feels his heart flutter again. How terribly inconvenient.

He was sure by now that he hadn't imagined it, because he hears his name again, said just as reverently as before. An uncharacteristic heat reaches his cheeks as he lets slip a small, affectionate smile. Why would he appear in Ranpo's dreams? He can't help his imagination running a bit hopefully wild. After a second of hesitation, he reaches very carefully over to sweep the bangs from Ranpo's face with as much tenderness as he can muster. He'd been sleeping for just a little over ten minutes during their commute. When he first fell over on his shoulder, Osamu had woken him up, but the second time he didn't have the heart.

Plus, he looked so sweet like this.

Not too long after he thinks this, though, their stop comes, so he lightly shakes Ranpo awake. Grabbing his hand gently, he led his groggy partner carefully from the train.

He gets a rather mischievous idea in the meantime.

They start their short walk back to the agency. Osamu checks over his shoulder every so often as Ranpo wakes up, yawning and stretching and looking just as whiny as ever without even speaking. He slows to a stop and, as expected, Ranpo runs his head straight into his back and stays there. The man lets out a small whine and even when he can't see him, Osamu knows he's glaring.

Nevertheless, his idea is going as planned so far, so he once more takes Ranpo's hand and leads him into the alley behind the agency building. Ranpo is obviously befuddled and annoyance radiates off of him, but Osamu ignores it. If his hunch is correct (and 99 times out of a 100 they are), he won't be annoyed for very long.

As soon as they can't see the street anymore, Osamu pounces. He pushes Ranpo against the wall, which gets him the delightful response of those gorgeous eyes opening wide to stare at him.

Osamu locks his eyes with the emerald irises and gives him a gentle, questioning stare. He notices with slight satisfaction that his partner sucks in an excited breath. Slowly, Osamu brings his left hand up to cradle Ranpo's check, which the man nuzzles into, letting his eyes drift closed once more.

Ah~ So his suspicion seems to be correct.

He can't help, for once, how fast his heart is racing and how excited he feels. It's cheesy to think, but it is a dream come true. Who doesn't want someone they've harbored a crush on for years to reciprocate their feelings? And, well, Osamu has so rarely been in love that this is a very special occasion indeed.

With slightly shaking fingers, Osamu cups Ranpo's other cheek with his hand and goes in for a nice, slow kiss. In no time at all, Ranpo reciprocates, pushing against Osamu's mouth for a deeper, more forceful one. How long had he been waiting for this? As long as Osamu had? He wanted to know desperately, but he'd have to wait to ask a different time. In the meantime, he pushed back, letting his tongue brush against Ranpo's lips (which, to the surprise of no-one, tasted rather a lot like sugar), asking permission to enter. His partner responded without missing a beat, welcoming his tongue in even more eagerly than he'd expected. He's taken aback by just how forward his partner being, and it's making him rather light-headed. Osamu is fighting to let years worth of emotions through to Ranpo and Ranpo seems to be trying to do the same.

Unfortunately, though, they eventually start seeing spots and have to pull away for air. Osamu gulps it down greedily, but his eyes never leave Ranpo's, who's eyelashes flutter open after a beat to return the gaze. His eyes have this haze about them, a little bit love-struck. It makes Osamu's heart skip a beat for about the thousandth time that day. This time, he's the one taken by surprise as his partner's arms wrap around and pull him close, the two of them now leaning against the wall. The detective snuggles his face into Osamu's chest and takes a deep, deep breath, obviously savoring the moment. It takes him a moment of uncertainty (and attempting to control his pulse), but Osamu returns the hug, burying his face in Ranpo's hair. A weight lifts off his shoulders.

It feels like they had only been like this for a few moments before Osamu picks up on a rather familiar demanding and annoyed voice wondering "where the fuck Dazai" was in the distance. While it would have suited him much better to stay like this for the rest of eternity, he breaks himself away from Ranpo and gets an annoyed whine in return. To alleviate his partner's pain, he grabs his hand and squeezes it. Ranpo gives a satisfied huff as they hurry up to the office.

* * *

"Hmmm… What case is this?" Osamu asks nonchalantly, coming up behind his boyfriend to look over his shoulder at his desk and paperwork. It'd been two days since their first kiss and they were now in the office, having just wrapped up a case.

Quite naturally, his hands land softly at Ranpo's waist as he settles his chin on his head. Ranpo, to Osamu's disappointment, doesn't react to the touches.

"I ordered cookies from Germany and they haven't come in yet."

"Ah," he responds, "That's a coincidence. My cyanide pills haven't come through either."

Ranpo frowns a bit at this, but then pulls gently at a wrist at his waist, causing Osamu to fall forward and wrap his boyfriend in an embrace. "It's fine. You've got a better medicine here, anyways." He sounds a little like a petulant child, like he can't believe Osamu would suggest choosing cyanide over him. Not that Osamu ever truly would.

Osamu hums in agreement almost instantly, a genuine smile appearing yet again on his face. He's had a lot of those the last couple days.

Ranpo kisses his wrist, his lips lingering a second longer than necessary (although Osamu greatly appreciates it), then stands to go about some other "important" business. Osamu watches him go with gentle eyes.

He turns around to see Kunikida and Atsushi are staring at him with a dumbfounded look in their eyes. Kunikida recovers first.

"Do you have to flirt in the office? It's entirely unprofessional." He shakes his head and turns away to go about his own work.

Atsushi just keeps staring.

* * *

Comments and critique are always appreciated!


End file.
